Accounting students take third at Deloitte National Trueblood Case Competition

April 22, 2013

A team of Penn State Smeal College of Business Accounting students placed third in the Deloitte National Trueblood Case Competition, held on April 6 at the Deloitte University facility in Westlake, Texas. Penn Staters competed against teams from Michigan State University, the University of Southern California, Baylor University, the University of Iowa and Howard University.

The Penn State team was comprised of five students: Adam Gorodesky, Katie Hartman, Sabrina Herbst, Siynan Li and Dan Rost. Accounting instructor Ed Babcock joined the team as faculty adviser, and each team worked closely with a partner and technical adviser from Deloitte.

“The team did a fantastic job at the national competition,” said Babcock. “This was a great opportunity for them to develop their accounting and presentation skills among several other top universities, and they really rose to the occasion.”

The students tackled a case concerning current auditing issues, including performing a Step Zero analysis. Presentations were judged by Deloitte partners and included a 25-minute question and answer session.

“The question and answer session was tough; they didn’t go easy on us,” said Hartman. “We really had to focus on figuring out our stance and sticking to it as a team.”

The team earned the trip by winning the local Deloitte Trueblood audit case study competition held at Penn State in February, in which about 30 students competed. This seminar and competition offers students the opportunity to discuss relevant, practical issues in accounting and experience aspects of the professional working environment.